pennock



(No Model.) 2 sheetssheen 1. W. D. PENNOCK.

BBB HIVB.

No. 449,760. 'Patented Apr. 7', 1891. y

Il I In MMM (No Model.) z sneens-sheet 2.

, W. D. PENNOGK.

BBB RIVE.

No. 449,760. PatentedApr. '7, 1891.

l l C [7 /1 wim/2 Z/ZT. 77.5'

WITNESSES INVENTOR .Attorney UNITED STATES AATENT Feten.

VILLIAM D. PENNOOK, OF LONGMONT, COLORADO, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TOEDWARD J. WILCOX, OF SAME PLACE.

BEE-HIVE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 449,760, dated April"7, 1891.

Serial No. 354,662. .(No model.)

To all whom t may concern.'

Ee it known that I, VILLIAM D. PENNOCK, a citlzen of the United States,and a resident of Longmont, in the county of Boulder and State ofColorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBee-Hives; and I do hereby declare that the following is such a full,clear, and exact description of the invention as will enable othersskilled in the art xo to which it appertains to make and use the same,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part ofthis specification, and in which- Figure l is a front elevation of myimproved hive. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the lower section of myimproved bee-hive, two of the comb-frames being removed. Fig. 3 is a topplan view of the upper section ofy said hive. Fig. et is a top plansimilar to Fig. 2, zo the middle portion being broken away, and partsbeing' shown in a different position. Fig. 5 is a View of one of thecomb-frames.

Fig. 6 is a detail sectional View online a", ot'

Fig. 4L.

The same letters of reference denote the same or similar parts in allthe gures.

This invention relates to bee-hives, and has for its object to provide ahive that shall possess simplicity and inexpensiveness and af- 3o fordthe apiarist an easy and perfect means for controlling the amount ofcomb that may be devoted to brood, and accordingly the amount of combthat may be filled with honey.

Vith these ends in view the invention consists in the improvedconstruction, arrangement, and combination of parts, which will behereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims.

A designates the bee-hive, made up of a lower section A and an uppersection A, and having a cover A. The section A" is provided near the topthereof with a support B at each end, and upon these supports are 45suspended the severalcomb-trames a. These supports B are provided atdistances apart somewhat greater than the width of the combframes withnotches o for the reception of a partition-piece b, preferably made ofthin 5o sheet metal. The purpose of this partition b will be fully setforth hereinafter. The combframes are of course placed far enough apartto leave a suficient'bee-space between each two of said frames. Thesupports B are preferably made of sheet metal bent at a right angle, sothat one flat side may be against the inside of the shell of the hiveand the other project into the hive, forming a ledge or support for theends of the comb-frames, as is clearly seen in Fig. l. The ends of thecomb- 6o frames are slotted or sawed into at about the middle, as at d',for the reception of pins d, (preferably common wire nails,) which areinserted into holes made in the shell of the hive just above the saidsupports B. Upon the tops of these comb-frames rest my honeyboard C C,which is made in two portions, as

is clearly shown in Fig. i. The divided honeyboard is an importantfeature in my hive. Each portion of this honey-board is cut away 7o atthe ends, as at C, all but a small part C C at the sides, as clearlyshown in Fig. 4f. The cut-away portion at the rear ends receives aprojection l, extending upward from the shell of the hive to hold thehoney-board firmly in its place. The cut-away portion at the front endsis for the purpose of allowing the working-bees to freely pass back andforth to and from the section A" and section A. This cut-away C in thefront ends of the divided 8o honey-board is either made sufficientlylarge to permit the working-bees to pass, but to eX- clude or shut offthe queen; or, if made so large that the queen could pass therethroughthen the said cut-away is provided with a lattice-work 0', as shown inthe right-hand portion of the honey-board, Fig. 4, through which latticethe working-bees can freely pass, but which excludes the queen frompassing therethrough. A valve or shut-oitl D is provided 9o for thisbee-passage up and down through the honey-board.

In Fig. 2 the valve or shut-off is shown turned outward to give a planview of it. InA Fig. 4 it is shown turned up or on edge in the 95position which it occupies when the bees are permitted to pass up anddown freely. Vhen it is turned backward, so as to cover the cutawayportion of the honey-board, it makes a close tit, and no bee can passthrough to go 1oo either up or down. The front of the top of thehoney-board is slightly beveled so as to enable the shut-off to litsnug. There are shown two small staples in the top of the shell ot'section A for the reception of the rod on which the shut-olf valve ismounted. This valve may be mounted in any suitable mannei'. The rod isprovided with a handle D', by means of which to open or close the Valve.The upper section A is provided with supports I3 forcoinb-frames. Thesesupports are preferably of sheet metal, and are made by crimping ordoubling the metal so as to make a strengthening-rib at the middlerunning lengthwise of said supports B. section A is also provided orsupplied with a cone-exit or escape-hole E. I have shown this as ametallic chute or cone set into a cutout portion of the section A. Theobject of this opening is simply to furnish a means of escape to thebees from the section A when the shut-oit D is closed down on the `frontof the honey-board, as will be more fully hereinafter recited. Any formof escape-opening would answer. It will be observed that lthe escape Eis not furnished with any lightingplace for the bees, as it is notintended that they shall ever enter the hive at the opening E, whereas,as shown by the shading on Fig. l, the bottoin board of the hiveprojects sulliciently to furnish an ample lighting-place for the bees.In the lower front of the section A is made an opening F, in which is anadjustable slide F', made, preferably, of

-sheet metal and provided with openings F other openings they may haveboth ingress and egress. The purpose in making this slide F adjustableis as follows: Suppose the tin partition or division board be so placedas to set off certain comb-frames.

may be so adjusted as to admit the bees toV but one side of thedivision-board, and suppose the apiarist wishes to remove comb frameseither to examine them or to take honey, he has simply to adjust thisslide so as to bring the chute or cone exit in front of that part of thehive having such honey-frames in it, and leave no ingress-opening infront thereof. The bees can at once be made to go out d of the chute,but cannot return through it.

IIence by removing the super and part of the sectional honey board theapiarist can remove thc honey-frames and examinethem, or

take honey at will without disturbing the bees or being disturbed bythem. This slide rests on the bottom of the opening F and is guidedbythe ange F, and may be secured in place in any well-known manner. Thisslide I term my Queen Excluder Number One.

justed from one set ol' notches b to another frames;

This upper Then this slide i cannot return through the escape, neitherThe tin division-board b is to be adset in the comb-supports B, just asmay be desired.

The hive is shown as having live combbut it may have any number,.depending entirely upon the size of the hive. In Fig. 2 thisdivision-board l is shown as placed so as to leave two comb-frames onrene side ot' it and three on the vothei side. Ihis board b may be ofwood. I term it my Queen Excluder Number Two. Thus the queen, in placeof having the whole ot' section marked A in which to lay her eggs andmake brood, is confined to one side of this board Z), having one frame,two, three, four, or more combframes, just as the apiarist 0 may choose;whereas the working-bees, having free access to both sides of thispartition-board b, both at the entrances F F" and over and across thetops of the comb-frames, where there is lefta bee-space for theworking-bees, will fill the frames on that side, from which the board bexcludes the queen, with clean honey; and when it is desired t0 admitthe bees to section A the apiarist turns open theyalve or shut-o D tothe position in which it 1s seen in Fig. 2, when the honey-makingbeeswill proceed to fillY said section A with honey, the queen beingexcluded, as liereinbefore stated. H

Suppose now that the section A has been filled with honey and it isdesired to take it without harming or exciting the bees to sting. It issimply necessary to turn down the shutoff or valve D, when the bees,iinding themselves cut ol from all access to or intercourse with thequeen, will immediately rush forth from the section A through the escapeor sary to lift the cover A and remove the section A. Then a new sectionA may be replaced, the valve or cut-olf opened again, when the bees willat once proceed to fill said new section with honey.

As has been stated hereinbefore, the bees would they be disposed to doso, since they are entirely cut 0E from the queen by reason oftheturning down of the cut-oit on the lattice-work or cut-away front endsof the honeyboard. This lattice in the front of the honey board I termthe queen-excluder proper.

It will be seen from what has been said that the apiarist can so handlethe queen as to vfully control the amount of brood that shall beproduced during the season, and hence, also, to control to a largeextent the amount of honey that the colony of bees shall produce; and,furthermore, it does away with all lighting the bees or smoking them inorder to take their honey.

Onegreat advantage of having the sectional or divided honey-board is theready access which it gives to the one side of the hive in order toremove comb -frames filled with honey and to replace said frames withothers IOO IIO

without at all disturbing the brood combframes and the queen, which areset off to the other side of the partition b and covered by the othersection of the divided honey board.

The great object of all bee-men or apiarists is to control the amount ofbrood, which can only be done by controlling the queen. Y Many hives,and all with which I am familiar, allow the queen to make brood all theseason, thus reducing the amount of honey to a minimum. By thearrangement and combination of the parts in my improved hive I have beenenabled to produce more than three times (three hundred per cent.) thequantity of honey the last season than I had done prior to the use of mysaid invention. These advantages I attain by my queen-excluders,enabling me to fully control the queen, for when not brooding honey ismaking, and the honey-receiving combs are by my invention kept free frombrood, and are hence clean and pure, and the honey commands a higherprice in market.

rlhe two sections AV and A", as well as the section A and the cover A',are neatly joined together by having the outer half of the shell of thetop edge of both sections and the inner half of the shell of the bottomedge of the upper section and of the cover cut away or rabbeted, so thatwet and any foreign substance are excluded from the hive.

Another use of my queen-excluders b and C C D is this, that I am thusenabled during any part ofthe year (especially in the winter in thenorthern portions of the country) to shut up the whole colony of bees ina smaller space than the Whole hive, and as the colony is often small inWinter the bees do better in a small space than in a large one.

The supports B B may be secured in the hive in any suitable manner.

Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United Statesl. In a bee-hive, thecombination,with upper and lower sections of a honey-board cut awayat'one end and having a latticed queenexcluder in said cut-away portion,of a pivoted cut-olf or valve located between the sections and iitted toopen and close said excluder, all substantially as described.

2. In a bee-hive, the combination,with upper and lower sections of asectional or dividedvhoney-board cut away at one end and having aqueen-excluder in said cut-away portion, of a pivoted cut-off or valvelocated between the sections and fitted to open and close said excluder,as may be desired, all as and for the purposes set forth.

3. In a bee-hive, the combination of the case or shell provided withholes, comb-frames having saWed-in spaces or kerfs on the upper surfacesof their ends, and pins or nails engaging said holes and kerfs, wherebysaid vcomb-frames may be held secure, as and for the purposes set forth.

4. In a bee-hive, the combination, with a section of said hive having asuitable partition-board, of the slide herein shown and described havinga plurality of ingress-openings and a single egress-opening, saidegress-opening being so constructed as to exclude bees from enteringthereat, whereby the dividedoff portion of the hive may have the beesexcluded for the examination of comb, as and for the purpose set forth.

WILLIAM D. PENNOCK.

Vitnesses:

B. L. CARR, F. P. SEooR.

